Officials of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) are expected to take a severe lashing today in the new session of the Legislative Yuan due to the continuing controversy surrounding the recent oil spill in southern Taiwan and the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四).
EPA head Lin Jun-yi (林俊義) said yesterday that the first stage of shore cleanup work in Lungkeng, an ecological reserve in Kenting National Park, Pingtung County, was finished.
"Last weekend, more than 100 workers cleaned oil residues on coral reefs and removed floating oil along the coastline. All the follow-up work will be done within a month," Lin said at a press conference in Kenting yesterday morning.
At the request of Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), Lin had stayed in Kenting for nine days to coordinate emergency measures taken by the Cabinet's taskforce established to oversee the cleanup after the oil spill.
During the first stage of the cleanup work, the army collected 326 tonnes of oil from reefs along the 2.5km stretch of coastline.
Oil residues left on coastal coral reefs, Lin said, could be decomposed naturally. "Nature will recover from the damage caused by the oil spill soon," Lin said.
Lin said that it would take six to 12 months to restore the coastal landscape in the Lungkeng ecological reserve.
Lin said that the oil spill case had offered Taiwan an excellent opportunity to learn about maritime conservation.
"I hope to see a complete system established in Taiwan to salvage wrecks, prevent marine pollution and preserve the marine ecological system," Lin said.
It is expected that Lin and Premier Chang will come under heavy fire from legislators today due to administrative negligence in the case.
Lin yesterday admitted that laws and regulations relating to marine pollution control were not complete. Since the case has been under investigation by the Control Yuan, Lin said, he would be willing to accept punishment.
In addition to the oil spill, the controversy surrounding the necessity of redoing the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant will be another environmental focus for legislators.
Lin said yesterday that he would not take part in the anti-nuclear demonstration scheduled for Saturday.
Lin has been under pressure from anti-nuclear groups since the Legislative Yuan reached an agreement to resume construction of the halted nuclear plant early this month. At the time, Lin said that he did not see the urgency of redoing the EIA.
Activists said they could not tolerate what they called Lin's careless response on the issue. Antinuclear activists said that they would keep urging the EPA to redo the EIA based on one of the censures previously handed down by the Control Yuan to the Cabinet in 1999.
Antinuclear activists today plan to hold a one-day peaceful sit-in demonstration in front of the Legislative Yuan in order to express their anger at what they view as the careless attitude of political figures toward the nuclear issue.
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